I saw the strangest thing today 
I was walking along the high street, in my usual meandering fashion. . . not really paying attention to anything much apart from possibly the traffic on the road and all the people who were annoying me on the pavements - the mothers with prams the size of HGVs who insist on shopping in packs and thus take up the whole width and more than two or three depths of walking space, the old people zigzagging back and forth in front of me making it impossible for me to overtake them and when I did almost suceed they try and trip me up with their shopping trolley thingies, the large groups of non-indigenous people chattering away in their own languages and not hearing or listening to my polite native English "excuse me"s, the young people - surely young enough to have been at school, so why weren't they there I ask you? - who are just generally rather insolent and uncaring about other inhabitants on the planet. . .
I was walking along the high street, in my usual meandering fashion. . . not really paying attention to anything much apart from possibly the traffic on the road and all the people who were annoying me on the pavements - the mothers with prams the size of HGVs who insist on shopping in packs and thus take up the whole width and more than two or three depths of walking space, the old people zigzagging back and forth in front of me making it impossible for me to overtake them and when I did almost suceed they try and trip me up with their shopping trolley thingies, the large groups of non-indigenous people chattering away in their own languages and not hearing or listening to my polite native English "excuse me"s, the young people - surely young enough to have been at school, so why weren't they there I ask you? - who are just generally rather insolent and uncaring about other inhabitants on the planet. . ..
. . .get the picture or shall I continue ranting for a while longer. . .
.
.
. . .and suddenly I noticed amongst the traffic, a funeral cortege
.
.
on the high street!
.
say what?
say what?
.
yup - a white glass sided carriage, as would have befitted Snow White herself drawn by two white horses with plumes on their heads, within which was the coffin, every surface adorned with beautiful floral wreaths (one reading ANGEL and one reading MUM and the others being circular); followed by three enourmous black limosines, also decked out with more wreaths, the first of which had girls sobbing at the windows. . .
it felt a little strange to me so much public awareness of their grief, but then since I don't know who the departed lady was I don't know what sort of send off would befit her
.
yup - a white glass sided carriage, as would have befitted Snow White herself drawn by two white horses with plumes on their heads, within which was the coffin, every surface adorned with beautiful floral wreaths (one reading ANGEL and one reading MUM and the others being circular); followed by three enourmous black limosines, also decked out with more wreaths, the first of which had girls sobbing at the windows. . .
it felt a little strange to me so much public awareness of their grief, but then since I don't know who the departed lady was I don't know what sort of send off would befit her.
I was kinda jealous. . . those girls were surely grieving in a very efficient manner (if you know what I mean) - whereas when my mother died I don't think I was really given the opportunity to grieve and I certainly didn't realise that the choice was mine
.
.
anyhoo a little later I was looking thru one of my poetry books (found one I want to share, but can't track it down on the net so you'll have to bear with me while I type it up rather than copying 'n' pasting) and found this
.
.
here lies a poor woman who was always tired
she lived in a house where help wasn't hired
her last words on earth were "dear friends I am going
to where there's no cooking or washing or sewing
for everything there is exact to my wishes
for where they don't eat there's no washing of dishes
I'll be where loud anthems will always be ringing
but having no voice, I'll be quit of the singing
don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never
I'm going to do nothing for ever and ever"
she lived in a house where help wasn't hired
her last words on earth were "dear friends I am going
to where there's no cooking or washing or sewing
for everything there is exact to my wishes
for where they don't eat there's no washing of dishes
I'll be where loud anthems will always be ringing
but having no voice, I'll be quit of the singing
don't mourn for me now, don't mourn for me never
I'm going to do nothing for ever and ever"
ANON
6 comments:
but how did they fit the coffin in the plumes?
don't know what I think about that . . .
I think I'm sad you weren't given a choice to grieve the loss of your mum.
For me, grief is a private thing, a personal thing--I don't fare well at letting it happen immediately.....too busy being the 'responsible' child/person I guess.
Seems to sneak up on me after the loss...usually when I least expect it, go figure.
Well, last year I went to more than enough funerals but there was a huge difference between Father-in-Law's very quiet, restrained and dignified one (where afterwards, people spoke quietly and with just a little red eyed sniffling) and my friend's mother's totally unrestrained one where all the family sat with streaming eyes and there was loud sobbing throughout the church. I felt that both events were equally moving, sad and expressive. And somehow, equally grievous. (If that works as a description)
Anyway, I have to tell you that Mrs Middle, aged about six, was asked, at school, to write her own epitaph. (It was part of a project involving the local history and a visit to the graveyard)She wrote "here lies [herself], the mother of thirteen children, who died of exhaustion."
mig altho it's a strange thing to say, I'm glad that you had positive grievous experiences
13 children eh? the young Mrs Middle was planning to have her work cut out for her (I used to think I wanted six!)
Mel different people work it in different ways - or maybe it works for different people in different ways
Zig it's a weird one, eh
shot and there I was, thinking that I'd used my commas in a clear and concise manner
me bad!
well well.
I am probably too in the midst of things to comment accurately.
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